“Once you have grown into independent adulthood, you no longer need somebody to take care of you. You can be responsible for yourself. In particular, you realize that you are responsible for your own happiness. Nobody can live your life for you. You must create your own health, success, and happiness. This sense of self-responsibility is only a partial maturity, however. Beyond self-responsibility lies the responsibility to give your gift. It is important to grow beyond dependence on your intimate partner for your own happiness. But it’s equally important to grow beyond simple independence and autonomy. The next stage of intimacy after personal independence has been attained is the mutual flow of gifting, or serving each other in love.” ~ David Deida, The Way of the Superior Man
“I am liken to a grain of wheat which faces one of three futures. The wheat can be placed in a sack and dumped in a stall until it is fed to swine. Or it can be ground to flour and made into bread. or it can be placed in the earth and allowed to grow until its golden head divides and produces a thousand grains from one. I am liken to a grain of wheat with one difference. The wheat cannot choose whether it be fed to swine, ground for bread, or planted to multiply. I have a choice and I will not let me life be fed to sine nor will I let it be ground under the rocks of failure and despair to be broken open and devoured by the will of others. Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.” ~ Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World
“Yet we are what we read. We are the educators of our own personalities. Certainly we have great influence in the crafting of our children. If we brought half the intelligence to the making of souls that we bring to the making of machines, we would be people of character and imagination. We would be sharp and therefore less inclined to kill and cheat each other. We would know where to find the deep pleasures, so we would be less desperate for shallow entertainments and the ephemeral gratifications of gadgets.”
Thomas Moore, Original Self | ★ Featured on this book list.
“Dreamers don’t have special genes. They find circumstances that amplify their dreams.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“The universal truth is beyond question – the only people who excel are those who have decided to do so. Great doctors or speakers or skiers or writers or musicians are great because somewhere along the way, they made the choice.” ~ Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“We make a difference to other people when we give gifts to them, when we bring emotional labor to the table and do work that matters. It’s hard for me to imagine that this way of living and working is available to only a few. Yes, the cards are unfairly stacked against too many people. Yes, there are too many barriers and not enough support. But no, your ability to create and contribute isn’t determined at birth. It’s a choice.” ~ Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“If it acts like a duck (all the time), it’s a duck. Doesn’t matter if the duck thinks it’s a dog; it’s still a duck as far as the rest of us are concerned. Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not ‘being who you are.’ That’s because ‘being’ is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
